JOI? Joi? Joy?

Pretty much.

JOI stands for “jerk off instructions” — and a typical JOI video involves exactly that: a person, typically a femme dom-esque woman, talking into a POV camera giving detailed and thorough instructions to the viewer, typically a cisgender guy, on how he should jerk himself off.

There’s a wealth of jerk off instruction content available on the interwebs, complete with sub-genres. The most popular sub-genre clips are frequently referred to only by their acronyms: SPH (small penis humiliation) and CEI (cum eating instructions). Humiliation, in whatever form, is a big part of this genre.

I recently spoke to Gareth May, who was exploring the deep and detailed world of JOI for Broadly/VICE. You can read Gareth’s excellent piece, wherein he speaks to guys who enjoy JOI videos, as well as the women who create them, right here — “The Women Who Make Money Telling Men to Jerk Off” (September 14, 2016).

…and my full correspondence with Gareth is copied for your reading enjoyment below!

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GM: Is the Internet behind the growth of instructional videos? Or has there always been some element of sexualised instruction in erotic content? 

DrCT: Yes and no. People have been making adult instructionals for a long time now, but what you are talking about with JOI is a sort of eroticized instructional that is more a piece of femme dom than a conventional sex ed video. Obviously, the Internet has shaped the way content is viewed and demanded

 

GM: JOI seems to encompass many other fetishes from cuckolding, sissification, humiliation, cum eating, forced bi etc. Do you think part of the reason JOI videos have seemingly exploded on the net is because it’s such a diverse fetish?

DrCT: That certainly may play a part. The idea of instruction and the power dynamic that comes from one person having control and the other being obedient can be found in many other fetish spaces. The idea of “instruction” also shifts the culpability in taboo — cum eating may not be “ok” in of itself, but being instructed to do it taps into fantasies related to having no control (while also giving tacit permission for desires that may be construed as “more deviant” in vanilla, or even fetish-minded, communities).

 

GM: Could we say that JOI is a feminist fetish? And if so, is its recent surge in correlation with the rise of (pop) feminism?

DrCT: Everything can be a “feminist fetish” (and every “feminist fetish” can be exactly the opposite). Feminism is about the mindfulness more so than the mechanics of an action or behavior. Changing up power dynamics or engaging in less frequent sexualized behaviors doesn’t make something feminist. The intentions and mindfulness behind the actions does.

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Well… What do you think about JOI videos? Are the feminist? Is there something interesting about both shifting and capitalizing on an unequal poor dynamic?

(pictured: image of JOI via Broadly)

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Get Exposure: A Sociologist Explores Sex, Society, and Adult Entertainment on Amazon and CT.com